Colby Law. Debra Webb

way. You’ve got a deal. For the day.”

      Lyle surveyed the first step toward gaining her cooperation if not her trust, three stories up at the very least. Nothing he hadn’t done before.

      Sadie headed back into the barn. “Come supper,” she called back at him, “I’ll expect some answers, and then you’ll have my final decision.”

      Lyle pointed his boots in the direction of the tool-shed. If it kept her alive, he could walk a tightrope all the way across Texas.

      If he was lucky, he would live through the experience.

       Chapter Four

      Five Hills Apartments, 2:00 p.m.

       What now? What now?

      It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She had a plan, a carefully laid plan. This could ruin everything! She paced the small studio apartment. Back and forth, back and forth. Perhaps the problem was only temporary.

      At the window, Clare Barker peeked through the slats of the yellowed blinds covering her one portal to the outside world. The car was still there. Oh, no, no, no. Who was this man watching her? The warden had relished telling her that as soon as she was delivered to this location she was on her own. She knew what he wanted—he wanted some vigilante to carry out the justice the whole world believed had been denied by an appeals court. Her lips tightened. But this man had not gone away. He was not supposed to be here! He changed everything.

      Her fingers knotted together as the worry rose in her throat once more, the taste as bitter as yesterday’s coffee dregs. He had sent this man to kill her. She knew it! She just knew it. It was the only way to stop her, that was for sure. He would know his options were limited. Had he prepared so well?

      Rage boiled in her belly. But he would fail. The fury stretched her lips into a knowing smile. He would fail.

      More than twenty years she had planned this moment. He would pay for what he had done to her. No force on earth could stop her without sending her to hell first.

      Time was her most fierce enemy. There was no room for distractions. Clare turned away from the window. Her reflection in the mirror mounted to the bathroom door of her efficiency apartment snared her attention. She was old now. The lines of her frown were deep and ugly. Her hair more gray than the blond it had once been. She touched the shaggy ends she had bobbed off to her ears. No use making it easy for anyone looking for her. She studied the hollows beneath her eyes and the crow’s feet nothing short of a face-lift would remedy. All those years within those stark, punishing walls had stolen her youth, her beauty. She had nothing left, save for this long-awaited final act of retribution.

      Clare went to the tattered sofa, where her most prized possessions were arranged like a shrine. She lit the small candle on the end table and dropped to her knees. Confident in her ability to overcome all blockades thrown in her path, she studied the photos lined up against the back of the worn cushions. Each one would soon know the truth. Each one would feel her pain and finally understand what only a mother who had sacrificed so much could.

      And before they answered to their maker for their sins, each one would realize that it had never been

      what if wicked old Clare won one of her many appeals. It had always been simply a matter of time.

      There was no escaping destiny.

      Clare bowed her head and began to pray. She prayed for strength, for courage to stay her course. Once it was done, she cared little what happened to her.

      She lifted her gaze to the photos worn by time and the caress of her fingers. Mommy was here now. The waiting and wondering would soon be over.

       Chapter Five

      Second Chance Ranch, 6:00 p.m.

      Sadie washed up and tossed the hand towel aside. What was she doing? Her reflection didn’t give her the answer she wanted to see. All she saw in the mirror was a woman who still wanted the only man she’d ever loved. The man who’d left her with painful words that rang in her ears to this day.

      I can’t do this, Sadie. You’re just a kid. I don’t have time for games.

      Anger and hurt—yes, hurt—twisted her heart. He’d left and she’d cried herself to sleep every night for months. What the hell was she doing allowing him to worm his way back into her life for any reason? The answer resonated in her brain as clearly as the last words he’d uttered to her all those years ago. Despite their miserable history, a tiny piece of her wanted to believe that it could be different now. Yeah, he was still six years older than her, but she was twenty-two—soon to be twenty-three—a lifetime away from fifteen.

      Did that really change anything? Of course not. Just because he was here to do a job didn’t mean he felt any different today than he had seven years ago. Did she? She’d thought she was way over Lyle McCaleb ages ago, but apparently she’d been lying to herself.

      As angry and disgusted as she was with her own stupidity and his audacity, she might as well get this over with. Her excuses for hanging out in the bathroom had run out. Time to face the reality of this bizarre turn of events and get some answers from the man.

      Taking a big breath, she opened the door and stalled. What was that smell? Fried potatoes? She sniffed the air like a beagle on the scent of a rabbit. Corn bread? Her mouth watered as much at the memory of her grandmother’s cooking the scents evoked as at the delicious smells themselves wafting from her kitchen right now.

      Lyle cooking? No way. Had Walley, the last employee to leave her high and dry and the only one who could cook, come crawling back? Not likely. He was far too afraid of Gus. She wandered to the kitchen, pausing in the doorway to get the lay of the land. No Walley in sight. Hat hanging on a kitchen chair, a red-and-white striped dish towel slung over one broad shoulder, Lyle McCaleb stirred what she presumed to be the potatoes revving her appetite. Sadie leaned against the door frame, too shocked to speak or maybe too curious to risk interrupting. This was a side of Lyle she had never seen. Then again, the fact that their every encounter before had been on the sly might have something to do with that.